Ingredients
Scale
Phase A
25 g fresh lemongrass stalks, chopped into 1/4″ rings
18 g citric acid
10 g cut cinchona bark
5 g fresh grapefruit zest
5 g fresh lime zest
5 g fresh lemon zest
1 tsp coriander seeds
1/2 tsp lavender
pinch salt
4 c vodka
Phase B
1 c sugar (or equivalent neutral-tasting sweetener)
Instructions
- Place a quart-sized mason jar on your scale and hit the tare button (i.e. zero it out so the scale is not counting the weight of the jar).
- One at a time, weigh each herbal ingredient into the jar.
- Once all the herbs are in, fill jar to the top with Titos (or your vodka of choice). You will actually use slightly less than 4 cups because of the displacement of the herbs.
- Screw on the lid and allow the vodka to infuse for about 4 hours, shaking the jar every so often. Please set at timer! Tonic is a gentle blend of citrusy, sweet and touch of bitter and your vodka can over-infuse pretty quickly. Find a timer and set it for 4 hours.
- When 4 hours it up, make a sample V&T to test out the flavor (it’s 5:00 somewhere, right?) If the flavor is too mild, let the infusion go another hour. If it’s too strong for your palate, simply dilute it with a bit more plain vodka.
- When you’re happy with the flavor, strain out the herbs using a coffee filter or tea strainer and transfer your infused vodka into a clean glass jar. You may wish to strain a second time until all the sediment is removed from the liquid.
- You should now have about 1 quart of infused alcohol. Add sugar, cover and shake. Allow the sugar to dissolve naturally. You do not want to use heat to dissolve the sugar because it will alter the flavor. Most of it will dissolve fairly quickly, and the last bits should dissolve within 24 hours.
- You’re done! It’s definitely 5 o’clock now…
